Monday, September 18, 2006

It was a four-hour journey to Yemen. Well, at least to the set of Sleeper Cell pretending to be Yemen, with camels and all. The dust up there was real too. Soon it became obvious, however, that Santa Clarita weather did not quite agree with Yemen's. We froze our little fannies off up there on Blue Cloud Ranch. Oh, how greatful I was that I brought my comfy knee-length sweater.

Mr. Fehr showed up in jeans and a black leather jacket. Nice. I came nowhere near him except for lunch when he chose to sit with the crew and the "little" people such as ourselves. He was quite a delight and he did his best to crack everyone up.

Layne's day pretty much consisted of running by Mr. Fehr and his companion making sure there was enough dust thrown their way. It kept him warm and he tried hard not to laugh. He really did look like a little Yemenese school boy.

Oded, btw, was born in Israel--he's a Jewish boy. In Sleeper Cell he plays a Muslim terrorist leader....very interesting.

So this day was cold, fun, educational and, for the first time, I encountered a mom who fits that nasty "stage mom" profile. Heaven help me if I ever become that way.

That was Thursday. Friday we tried to catch up with school. This could be done better. The teacher on set was no help to us. She obliged the directors who wanted the kids NOW, and school was hurried. She has the authority to keep the kids in school. I don't think the kids could focus on school things as the AD kept coming in. Next time I'll say something. Oh, the drama.

Sunday was another audition for Layne. No pressure. No pressure. Argh! He and I played thumb wars for most of the morning while he was trying to learn his lines. He did great, but so did the other 95 kids. We thought we would be done by 10:00am so our plans to attend second service at church seemed in tact. But alas, we were the last ones to be seen. Church was over. We did, however, have a wonderful lunch at TGIF with Sarah. Glorious fries, blue, green, red slushes and it's always good to be together, even for just a while.